ESH4200 – Narrative Approaches in Medical Education
Course content
This course explores medicine and medical education through the lens of storytelling. It starts from the premise that much of how medicine is experienced and understood, from the perspective of both practitioners and patients, can be usefully analysed in terms of the stories people tell about it. We will examine topics including: narrative’s position within broader debates of medicine as an art and a science; the role of storytelling in medical communication; the significance of narrative as a way of understanding and experiencing illness and the body; narrative approaches to medical ethics; and the synergies and tensions between story-led approaches and evidence-based medicine.
It will introduce students to the established field of narrative medicine – an approach to clinical practice which seeks to recognise the value of story-led approaches to clinical practice alongside medical science. It also draws on work from other disciplines to think about the narrative dimensions of medicine understood broadly. We will ask, for instance, how media narratives influence attitudes towards public health interventions and how political narratives shape perceptions of the connections between health and concepts such as sustainability and economic growth.
The course provides an opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds in healthcare to work together and learn from one another to generate new knowledge about contemporary medical practice.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
A student who has completed this module of the Honours certificate will be able to:
- Account for existing scholarly literature on the place of narrative within medicine;
- Describe other approaches to narrative and their relevance to medicine;
- Explain the interplay between narrative and other modes in medical contexts;
- Account for the narrative dimensions of medical education.
Skills
A student who has completed this module of the Honours certificate will be able to:
- Identify and analyse the narrative dimensions of medical practice, broadly understood;
- Identify and analyse the narrative dimensions of specific case studies;
- Apply narrative concepts in the design of pedagogical approaches;
- Teach other students to understand the interplay between narrative and other modes in medical contexts.
General competence
A student who has completed this module of the Honours certificate will be able to:
- Communicate your own subject knowledge to peers outside your discipline;
- Cooperate productively with peers from different areas of expertise;
- Present your results clearly to a non-expert academic audience;
- Reflect on your own research and dissemination practice.
Admission
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
This course is part of the Honours certificate:
This course is only available for students admitted to this certificate.
Teaching
This intensive course will be delivered through five days of teaching, scheduled over one week.
Each day will focus on a key thematic area and will be divided between lectures and small group discussion. The lectures will introduce major concepts and extend and elaborate on the preparatory reading. Extensive small group discussion, meanwhile, will enable students to develop practical skills in narrative analysis by giving them opportunities for detailed discussion of case studies and their prior experiences of healthcare. Teaching will be delivered and discussions facilitated by a mixture of UiO staff and guest lecturers with varied research and practice backgrounds.
Compulsory activities:
- The course requires at least 80% attendance in order to be able to hand in your exam. Attendance will be registered.
Examination
Individual home exam
At the end of the course students will be asked to write an essay on a topic related to the teaching and teaching material given during the course.
Grading
The Board at the University of Oslo has decided to introduce detailed guidelines for all examinations, which take place at the University. The description of the grading should be clear and transparent. This is done to ensure alignment between learning outcomes, assignments, and grading. The Faculty of Medicine has developed a web page with information regarding exams and the grading procedures (norwegian version).
Submit assignments in Inspera
You submit your assignment in the digital examination system Inspera. Read about how to submit your assignment.
Use of sources and citation
You should familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to the use of sources and citations. If you violate the rules, you may be suspected of cheating/attempted cheating.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Explanations and appeals
Resit an examination
Withdrawal from an examination
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
Special examination arrangements
Application form, deadline and requirements for special examination arrangements.